Heart beats really fast during lucid dreams?

[BackOfTheBoat]

Hi guys. This seems like a really awesome site- I'd really like to become involved in these forums. But the reason I came here is because I've been researching lucid dreams for the past hour or so and I have a question that I can't find an answer to. Whenever I'm having a nightmare and I realize I'm dreaming, I almost always immediately wake myself up. I know that I could just stick around and try to "wish away" all the bad stuff with my mind, but I always seem to panic and waking up seems like the only option. Sometimes, waking myself up from a nightmare is really hard; I feel like I have to force my eyelids open (or to move any part of my body), and I usually sit up in bed and make some loud exclaimation when I finally do awake, and I'm often breathing heavilly. That's not the problem I'm here to find an answer too though. Whenever I'm having a dream that isn't frightening or unpleasent and I realize I'm alseep, well...I'm gonna be honest here. Whenever I realize that I'm in a dream, Angelina Jolie or whatever hot chick I was thinking about that day walks through the door and we get it on. Or atleast, we start getting it on. Because right when things start to get hot, I always get the feeling that my heart is beating really fast. Like unusually fast (even for somebody having sex with Angelina Jolie). And it's not just my dream-heart; I feel like it's my real body's heart (kind of like how your heart starts to beat fast and hard when you're around someone you love, but not as pleasent). And then I always start thinking that my heart is going to stop in my sleep and I panic and wake myself up. This has literally happened in every lucid sex dream I've had. I'm not sure if it happens in all my lucid dreams, but to be honest, I can't remember ever having one where I didn't wish that I was having sex, so I wouldn't know Lately I've tried to tell myself during these dreams that I'm just being paranoid and that I should stay in the dream, but I always end up waking myself up. This kind of bums me out because it makes me think that I don't really have control So what do you recommend I do? Is the rapid heart beating just in my head or is my heart really doing that? Do any of you experience this, or have you heard of someone who does? I know this was a long post, so thanks for reading. Any help would really be appreciated.